Reel-case phone case

ABSTRACT

The present invention is a mobile device case with a retractable lanyard housed in a pocket-friendly profile. A novel feature provides for the lanyard to be releasably refracted into the housing in a one-two set-release scenario.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a U.S. Non-Provisional Patent Application claiming priority to U.S. Provisional Application 61/978,846, filed on Apr. 12, 2014.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to mobile phones, and more particularly to mobile phone cases.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Keeping the ubiquitous mobile phone accessible and ready for use often involves pockets, belt-holsters or purses. Such locations are not particularly handy, however. While seated, for example, it is inconvenient to fish a phone out of a pants pocket. Even though it is not recommended to talk on the phone while driving without a Bluetooth device, notwithstanding any issues of legality, some phone users, nevertheless, use the unsafe practice of holding a phone while talking and driving. Not only is inattention to the road an issue in such a case, steering the car with only one hand is an accident waiting to happen. If the phone were to be suspended from the neck with the speaker turned on, for example, both hands, at least, could remain on the steering wheel. Tethers and lanyards have been used to keep a mobile phone handy and free from inconvenient placement in a pocket or purse. Photography is a particular application where instant access in needed, and with the advances in phone camera technology today, the mobile phone is the only camera many people use. It is advantageous to have it hanging from a lanyard around one's neck or wrist.

The problem with lanyards, however, is that the loose cordage can become ensnared or entangled with other objects, not to mention the nuisance of stuffing it away, or the untidy appearance of failing to do so. Stowing the cordage on a reel would be convenient, if the reel could be combined with the phone, somehow.

The present invention addresses the unfulfilled need in the present art to provide a releasably retractable lanyard integrated into an ancillary mobile phone case.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, it is object of the present invention to provide a lanyard to keep a mobile phone instantly at-the-ready. It is further object to provide a reel integrated with a mobile phone case into which to retract the lanyard. It is further object to deploy the lanyard with one pull and to retract it with only a second pull. It is further object to have the reel and lanyard self-contained and free from snagging in pockets and purses. It is further object to have an adjustable feature to customize the length of the lanyard.

These objects, and others to become hereinafter apparent, are embodied in a lanyard apparatus for a mobile device comprising, in a first part, a case having a cavity configured to receive the mobile device. In a second part, the lanyard apparatus includes a retractable lanyard integrated with the case. With the mobile device mounted in the case and the lanyard extended, the mobile device may be securely worn about a user's neck. In a preferred embodiment, the mobile device is a phone with a camera and the lanyard enables readily-accessible photography. Preferably, the retractable lanyard is refracted onto a spool rotatably mounted in the cavity. Preferably, the spool comprises a ratchet mechanism which sets with a pull on the lanyard and releases with a subsequent pull. Preferably, the lanyard is comprised of an aramid fiber rope.

As this is not intended to be an exhaustive recitation, other embodiments may be learned from practicing the invention or may otherwise become apparent to those skilled in the art.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various other objects, features and attendant advantages of the present invention will become fully appreciated as the same becomes better understood through the accompanying drawings and the following detailed description, in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the several views, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a mobile phone case of the present invention showing a refracted lanyard;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the mobile phone case showing a partially-deployed lanyard;

FIG. 3 is a left-side elevation view of the case and reel housing;

FIG. 4 is section view of FIG. 3 taken along the lines 4-4;

FIG. 5 is a back-side elevation view of the case and reel housing inverted;

FIG. 6 is a section view of FIG. 5 taken along the lines 6-6 showing the ratchet mechanism;

FIG. 7 is another inverted back-side elevation view;

FIG. 8 is section view of FIG. 7 taken along the lines 8-8 showing the spiral spring;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the ratchet, pawl and spiral spring, the ratchet and pawl in an interlocked configuration; and

FIG. 10 is perspective view of the ratchet and pawl in a by-pass configuration.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Throughout the description and the claims, the term “mobile device” will be taken to refer to any mobile electronic device including, but not limited to, digital phones, digital cameras, analog cameras, personal digital assistants (PDA's), tablets and notebooks. The term “mobile phone” will be taken to refer to any digital phone including, but limited to, cell phones, as a category, and Smartphones, as a sub-category thereof, and brand-specific phones including iPhone®, Android®, Blackberry® and Galaxy®, in particular.

The components of a lanyard apparatus 1 are best shown in FIGS. 2 and 4. A case 10 has a cavity 11 configured to receive a mobile device (not shown). In the preferred embodiment, the mobile device is a mobile phone (not shown). A spool 3 is rotatably mounted to a back wall 13 of the case 10. The spool 3 is supported on spindle 4 and rotates about axis 5. A retractable lanyard 40 is wound about the spool 3.

A ratchet mechanism 20, comprised of ratchet gear 21 and pawl 22 (FIG. 6), engages the spindle 4, as described herein below, to stop a back-spooling rotation of the spool 3. The spool 3, spindle 4 and ratchet mechanism 20 are housed on the back wall 13 of the case 10 by a reel housing 12. As shown in Fig's 1 and 2, the reel housing 12 has an aperture 14 through which a proximal end 41 of the retractable lanyard 40 is exposed. The proximal end 41 is attached to a lanyard tab 42, which maintains the proximal end 41 in an exposed posture in the aperture 14 (FIG. 1), where it is positioned to be hand-gripped and pulled in the act of extending the retractable lanyard 40.

A spiral spring 8 biases the spool 3 to retract the retractable lanyard 40 (FIG. 8). The spiral spring 8 is connected on one end to the spindle 4 and to the reel housing 12 on the other end. As the retractable lanyard 40 is pulled, the spiral spring 8 compresses setting up a return-force moment. The pawl 22 pivots about a pivot post 23 (FIGS. 4 and 6) fixed to the back wall 13, and the pawl 22 is biased into engagement with ratchet gear 21 by a pawl spring (not shown). The pawl spring may be any spring biasing means common in the art, such as a wire torsion spring, for example. The ratchet gear 21 is attached to spindle 4 and rotates thereby unitarily with spool 3.

When the lanyard tab 42 is pulled in a first pull 6 (FIG. 2), the retractable lanyard 40 extends and the spool 3 unwinds in either direction (counterclockwise is illustrated by example only). As the spool 3 unwinds, the spiral spring 8 compresses and the pawl 22 rides over sliding interfaces 25 (FIG. 6) of the ratchet gear 21. When the first pull 6 stops, the spiral spring 8 forces the pawl 22 into engagement with flat interfaces 26 by means of connection to spindle 4, and thereby to ratchet gear 21, the engagement locking the retractable lanyard 40 at the extent of the pull. A selected extended length of the lanyard 42 can thus be set by a selectable draw. When the lanyard 42 is pulled again in a second pull 7 (FIG. 1), the ratchet mechanism 20 moves from an interlock position 27 (FIG. 9) to a bypass position 28 (FIG. 10). In the bypass position 28, with the spiral spring 8 tension-loaded and the pawl 22 essentially “cocked”, a dynamic bypass is set up by means of the smoothed contours at the perimeters of the pawl 22 and the ratchet gear 21, wherein the spindle 4 may spin retractably and rewind the retractable lanyard 40. The speed of release of the lanyard 42 is key to setting either the interlock position 27 or the dynamic bypass leading to retraction, wherein a controlled release allows time for the pawl 22 to engage with the next flat interface 26. In this manner, the ratchet mechanism 20 is a “double pull” mechanism, wherein either the retractable lanyard 40 can be reset to a different length or, otherwise, retracted fully onto the spool 3.

The case 10, reel housing 12 and spool 3 with spindle 4 may be molded from acryl-butadiene-styrene (ABS), or any other tough resin. The reel housing 12 may be joined with the back wall 13 by ultrasonic welding, or some other known means of attachment. The ratchet pawl 22 may be molded from high density polyethylene (HDPE), or any other resin with lubricity property. The spiral spring 8 may be comprised of a tempered spring-steel band approximately 0.1 inch wide. The retractable lanyard 40 may be comprised of aramid fiber rope (Kevlar®), or another cordage with a high tension modulus in a small gage.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction, to the arrangements of the components and to the method of using set forth in the preceding description or illustrated in the drawings. For example, the spiral spring 8 may be eliminated and a hand-crank added to retract the spool 3. Further, by example, the spool 3 might be two separate spools to manage dual lines of the retractable lanyard 40 separately. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of the description and should not be regarded as limiting. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A holder for a mobile device, comprising: a case having a cavity configured to receive the mobile device; and a retractable lanyard integrated with the case having a double pull action, the double pull action allowing selectively either the withdrawal of a preferred length of lanyard or retraction of a preferred withdrawn length into the case; whereby, with the mobile device mounted in the case and the lanyard extended, the mobile device may be securely worn about a user's neck.
 2. The holder of claim 1, wherein the mobile device is a phone with a camera and the lanyard enables readily-accessible photography.
 3. The holder of claim 1, wherein the retractable lanyard is retracted onto a spool rotatably mounted in the cavity by means of a spiral spring.
 4. The holder of claim 3, wherein the spool comprises a ratchet mechanism which sets with a pull on the lanyard and releases with a subsequent pull.
 5. The holder of claim 4, wherein the set and release is determined by the speed at which the lanyard is released after withdrawal of a selected length, a sufficiently deliberate release setting the ratchet mechanism against automatic retraction by the spiral spring.
 6. The holder of claim 4, wherein the ratchet mechanism comprises a pawl and a ratchet gear interfacing at either an interlock position or a bypass position, the pawl biased to engage either a flat surface or a sliding surface at the perimeter of the ratchet gear.
 7. The holder of claim 6, wherein the perimetral contours of the pawl and ratchet gear are sufficiently smooth so as to allow a dynamic bypass action there between during refraction.
 8. The holder of claim 1, wherein the lanyard is comprised of an aramid fiber rope.
 9. A holder for a mobile device, comprising: a case having a cavity configured to receive the mobile device; and a retractable lanyard integrated with the case; whereby, with the mobile device mounted in the case and the lanyard extended, the mobile device may be securely worn about a user's neck.
 10. The holder of claim 9, wherein the retractable lanyard is retracted onto a spool rotatably mounted in the cavity by means of a spring. 